1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information reading apparatus, and, in particular, to an information reading apparatus for reading information such as a bar code provided on a label.
Recently, the number and type of goods having bar code labels provided thereon have significantly increased. The bar codes are used for goods classification, selection, pricing and accounting when goods are sold, and so forth, and are typically read by optical reading devices such as a portable type, a stationary type, and a combination portable/stationary type. For combination portable/stationary type readers, it is necessary that the readers have configurations which can easily be held in the hand of a user, and effectively used in a stationary condition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Bar-code reading apparatuses for reading bar codes include contact type and non-contact type. Non-contact type bar-code reading apparatuses are typically of the laser type. Laser type bar-code reading apparatuses emit laser scanning light to bar codes, and then detect light reflected by the bar codes and thus read the bar codes. Laser type bar-code reading apparatuses can be portable, stationary, and combination portable/stationary type. Combination portable/stationary type will be discussed below.
FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of a prior art combination portable/stationary scanner in a stationary condition. This hand scanner 11 includes a hand-holding portion 12 and a reading portion 13. A cable 14 extends from the rear end of the hand-holding portion 12 and is connected to a point-of-sale (POS) system (not shown, but which could include cash registers, computers, terminals, etc.). Within the hand-holding portion 12 and reading portion 13, a reflected-light detecting mechanism is provided. Laser light emitted by a laser diode is provided to scanning means such as a polygon mirror, and the scanning means causes the laser light to scan in a plurality of directions, and thus the laser light is externally emitted through a reading window of the reading portion 13 as scanning light 15.
When scanning light 15 is incident on a bar code, the light is reflected by the bar code, passes through the reading window of the reading portion 13, and is incident on a photodiode in the reading portion 13. The light incident on the photodiode is converted into an electric signal therethrough. This electric signal based upon the bar code is processed by a CPU and then is supplied to the above-mentioned POS system. The bar code has an alternating arrangement of bar portions and space portions, which arrangement is standardized by UPC (Universal Product Code), EAN (European Article Code), JAN (Japan Article Number (code)) or a similar code protocol.
In situations where the hand scanner 11 is used in a stationary condition, a stand 16 is used. In the stand 16, a supporting portion 18 is vertically fixed on a reading table 17. A placement portion 19 is formed on the top of the supporting portion 18, and the hand-holding portion 12 of the hand scanner 11 is placed on the placement portion 19. An operator faces the stand 16. When the hand scanner 11 is placed on the stand as shown in FIG. 9, the laser scanning light is emitted toward the reading table 17 from the reading window of the reading portion 13.
FIGS. 10A and 10B illustrates situations in which the hand scanner 11 is used. FIG. 10A illustrates a case in which the hand scanner 11 is used in a condition in which the hand scanner 11 is placed on the stand 16. In this case, as shown in the figure, the laser scanning light 15 is emitted in a direction to the side of an operator 20 from the reading portion 13 of the hand scanner 11. The operator 20 holds a label 21, or an article having the label 21 provided thereon, on which a bar code 21a is provided, and causes the label 21 to block the laser scanning light 15 in a condition where the surface of the label 21 having the bar code 21a provided thereon faces the reading portion 13. Thereby, the bar code 21a reflects the laser scanning light 15, the reflected light is incident into the reading portion 13, and thus the reflected light is used in the reading portion 13 to read the bar code 21a.
FIG. 10B illustrates a situation where the operator 20 holds the hand scanner 11 by his or her hand. In this situation, the operator 20 holds the hand-holding portion 12, aims the reading window of the reading portion 13 at the bar code 21a portion of the label (article) 21, and causes the reading portion to emit the laser scanning light.
FIGS. 11A and 11B illustrate a hand scanner having another configuration in the prior art. Hand scanner 22 is a stationary one. The hand scanner 22 has a box-shaped enclosure 22a and can be simply set on a reading table 23 by itself without needing a stand such as the above-mentioned stand 16. Further, the hand scanner 22 has a width which is set to be small enough that operator 20 can hold it by his or her single hand. As shown in FIG. 11B, the hand scanner 22 has a reading window 22b at one side wall thereof. Laser scanning light 24 is emitted in a direction of that side, as shown in FIG. 11B, through the reading window 22b. When using the hand scanner 22, as shown in FIG. 11A, the operator 20 positions the bar code 21a portion of the label or article 21 at a position such that the laser scanning light 24 emitted by the scanner 22 which is set on the reading table 23 is incident on the bar code 21a portion. The bar code 21a can therefore be read.
FIG. 11B illustrates a situation where the enclosure 22a of scanner 22 is held by the operator 20 in a state in which the reading window 22b faces externally. In this case, the laser scanning light 24 emitted from the reading window 22b is caused to be incident on the bar code 21 a portion of the label or article 21. The bar code 21a is thereby read.
Referring to the configuration shown in FIG. 10A, when the hand scanner 11 is used in a stationary condition, the reading window of the reading portion 13 is positioned in the direction of the operator 20, while the hand-holding portion 12 is positioned at a position farther from the operator 20. In a situation where the operator 20 then desires to hold the hand-holding portion 12 by hand to use the hand scanner 11 in a hand-held condition such as that shown in FIG. 10B, the operator 20 must pass the hand scanner 11 from one hand to the other in order to change the orientation of the hand scanner 11. Thereby, the operator 20 can use the hand scanner 11 in the situation shown in FIG. 10B. In fact, as shown in FIGS. 10A and 10B, the orientations of the hand scanner 11 are reverse to one another with respect to the spatial relationship with the operator 20. Otherwise, the operator 20 needs to extend his or her hand to the back side of the hand scanner 11 and directly hold the hand-holding portion 12 so as to change the orientation of the hand scanner 11. A similar difficulty occurs with scanner 22 shown in FIGS. 11A and 11B. When using the scanner 22 in the hand-held condition after using the same in the stationary condition, the operator 20 either needs to pass the scanner 22 from one hand to the other or needs to extends his or her hand to the back side of the scanner 22, hold it directly, and thereby change the orientation of the scanner 22. Due to these configurations, the hand scanners 11 and 22 in the prior art are troublesome when used as hand held scanners. Further, the cable 14 extending from the rear end of the hand-holding portion 12 is also troublesome when the operator 20 holds the hand-holding portion 12, because the cable 14 prevents the operator 20 from freely holding the hand-holding portion 12 and also from freely moving the hand scanner 11.
The present invention has been developed in view of these problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide an information reading apparatus which has improved features such that an operator can easily handle the apparatus, without encountering difficulties in handling caused by the cable or by the relationship of the stationary reading position and the handheld position.